Texas Hold'em Poker Guide

One of the best ways to build an effective strategy and increase your chances of winning a game of poker is by paying attention to poker tells. Poker tells are actions that your opponents carry out that give you hints as to the value of their hand or the way they play the game. By paying close attention to your opponents you can greatly improve your odds.

Poker tells begin from the moment you sit down at the poker table. Take a look at the way in which each of your opponents has stacked his or her chips. Generally, players that keep their chips in neat, ordered stacks are tight players. These players usually don't bluff and are less likely to re-raise or place large bets. On the other hand, players that keep their chips in messy, unorganized stacks are generally loose players. They are more likely to raise, re-raise, bluff and stay in the game with a bad hand, or one that is only so-so.

Next, it is important to learn the poker tells of a player with a very good hand. If you notice a player showing these tells then you may want to fold, unless you also have a good hand such as a Royal Flush, Straight Flush or Four of a Kind. Tells of a good hand include shaking hands and rapid breathing as it is difficult to hide excitement with a really fantastic hand. Any players with great hands will also sigh or shrug, in a typical overacting scene in an attempt to make their opponents think their hand is only so-so. Players with good hands will also frequently glance at their chips after seeing which cards are in the hole. This is because they are looking to see just how much they can bet. You can assume that players showing any of these tells have good hands and you should determine your strategy appropriately.

There are also tells that show a player has a bad hand. A player that continues to stare for a long time at new cards that have been dealt typically don't have a great hand, but they are staring in order to make other players think they are interested. Players with weak hands also tend to hold their breath, especially if they are bluffing, and stare down other players in order to represent their strength. A rule of thumb in poker is to assume that when a player is acting strong his hand is weak and when a player is acting weak his hand is strong.

Though studying up on poker strategy and odds is important, learning about poker tells is one of the best ways to improve your game. Look for tells about our opponent's hands and do your best to avoid showing poker tells to let your opponents know what kind of hand you've got.